Thursday’s Fish Wrap

Hello, Canadians. Stand by for neeeeeeews.
The Cubbies are out of it, Fox execs are crying in their beer, and the Chicago Sun-Times has found a new goat. If I were that fan who foiled Alou’s foul catch in game six I’d move to Florida real quick. Illinois’ governor is offering entry into the witness protection program. Jeb Bush offers a mansion on the Florida coast.

Today’s the day for Apple’s big music announcement. I’ll post details here as soon as Patrick and Andrew Hahn get back from Moscone Center. UPDATE: As expected, Apple announced iTunes for Windows today, including the iTunes Music Store. Steve Jobs says, “This isn’t some baby version of iTunes. It’s the whole thing.” Apple is aiming for 100,000,000 downloads within one year. Download your copy from Apple now.

A new Microsoft security bulletin warns of five, count ’em, five new critical flaws in Windows and Exchange Server. This is the first of Microsoft’s monthly updates. Under its new regime, MS will hold onto critical updates and release them all at once every month. Jeff Jones, director of Microsoft Security told ZDNet “All of the five critical (vulnerabilities) are, of course, critical, so that means they are wormable.” How reassuring.

The FCC is about to approve a rule that would require all PCs and other digital video devices to contain copy protection. The so-called “digital flag” rule would protect digital TV broadcasts from piracy. The proposed system would require every device used by a consumer who wants to watch digital programming to include a copy protection scheme to be approved by the MPAA. Even Microsoft is against this one.

Verisign says there’s no technical problem with Site Finder, and it plans to revive the service but promises 30-60 day notice. The “benefits to users” outweigh the hassle to network admins. Yeah right.

Lame duck California Governor, Gray Davis, signed a pioneering online privacy bill into law yesterday. The law, the first in the nation, goes into effect July 1. It requires sites that collect personal information have a privacy policy and actually adhere to it. AOL fought the bill vigorously. Makes you wonder doesn’t it?

17 Replies to “Thursday’s Fish Wrap”

The Sun Times should not have posted that fan’s identity or personal info.
It is not of anyone’s business. One should have a semblance of anonymity at a game.
Fans at a game don’t own their images as they are in a public place, but they should be able to assume that (unless they are a celeb) that their identity won’t be made public as a result of them attending a game. Especially under these circumstances.
The Cubs play a lot of day games. Now one playing hooky from work should think twice. If they’re in the wrong place at the wrong time they may have their info, place of work, etc. published in a major newspaper and risk losing their job, etc. Going to a game shouldn’t be that costly.
BTW, I used to attend a lot of Cub games and I’ve sat in that section. One wouldn’t expect a foul ball to be in play that high up in the stands. Its not like being on either side of the dugouts where you’re eye to eye with the players.

One man doesn’t lose a game, on the field or off. There was about four sets of hands reaching for that ball, this guy was the unlucky one. That said that guy could actually lose his life in a mob scene the next few weeks. I would take a powder for a while. I heard of everyones fifteen minutes of fame, but I guess you could also draw fifteen minutes if infamy.

The message on Apple’s website says it all:
“Hell Froze Over. Introducing Itunes for Windows. The Best Windows App Ever.” (Can I break the rules to quote Apple.com on Leoville?)
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time Mac software has made it to the PC… think ClarisWorks (best of its era without a doubt) and Filemaker. Both great apps, both STILL useful. I still use ClarisWorks 1.0 on my old 486 typewriter PC.. easy to use with no fuss..
Debate topic of the day: will Itunes for Windows be THAT popular in the wake of KazzaLite and others?

I think Itunes will make people take a serious look at their music habits.
I, for one, will take the time to see what ITunes has to offer. I just recently got “screwed” by a copy-protected CD earlier this week. Since I live in Canada, I could sue the music store HMV for missleading me into thinking that this was a CD when it doesn’t even have the Philips CD logo. I could also sue EMI for using copy protection in the first place because here we have a added fee on most blank media. That money gets redistributed to music companies and artists.
EMI has gotten a lot of bad press for pushing ahead with this… “protection”.
Glad I watch TSS and now know how to bypass the C-P.
Anyway, back to iTunes. Yes, like the iPod, I think the migration to Windows users will be a hit.
Let’s wait and see.

I left this message at Call for Help today, and have some comment on the process of leaving comments:
THE MESSAGE.
Two of my 11 Macs have come with SuperDrive.
Intuitive CD and DVD recording on Mac means drag and drop on an icon.
Cheap, I only have write-once CDs and DVDs. I don’t want to waste them.
Do I simply drag and drop on the icon? I don’t want to study up. I just want to do it.
END OF MESSAGE.
I find this comments process difficult because I neither want to be trite nor obscure. I suspect interactive interview utilities could serve to provide you a better grasp of the person needing your response.
SelectSmart.com (or SmartSelect.com) has some such capability. It can do such things with religions, I know.

After seeing that the iTunes music store finally works for the PC, I downloaded it thursday night. Made my first online music purchase yesterday (bought 1 full length album, and 2 EPs, and it only cost me 20 dollars.) I also finally got an iPod, i got the newest generation 20 gb one.
Needless to say, I am now in Musical Bliss…

Downloaded iTunes like I was supposed, but I can’t say I am impressed. There doesn’t appear to be any way to have it show me the song filenames, and that’s how my music is organized. Many of the id3 tags are in double-byte Asian characters that look like gibberish when converted to English fonts, so iTunes does me no favor by showing me JUST the tag info. I want the filenames. FWIW, this is the same reason I dislike Windows Media Player. Apparently filenames are just out of style. I’ll stick with Winamp.

I live in a country where i can’t be billes.
I have to have a billing address in America.
Is anyone here willing to let me bill it to them.
P.S. Why does everyone hate the man so much,all he did was reach for the ball.That is what any fan would do.It is just a coincidence (in leo’s words coincidinc) that he was the one to get blamed.

iTMS working in Canada is less up to Apple than it is up to the CRIA. The Globe and Mail had an article up months ago about it, and the plan was supposed to be ready by the end of September. It’s October. Go figure. I haven’t really been following it since that article, so things could have changed.
As for using iTMS in Canada, if you know someone in the states, give them the money to buy you an iTMS coupon. You can use that anywhere, because it doesn’t rely on the recipient’s credit card billing address to work (only the purchaser’s). It does require an address, and if you do not feel obligated to use your Canadian address, it will work fine. Suggested address: 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino California. Seems appropriate. 🙂
I haven’t tried the coupon thing, I’ve just read that it works.
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Didn’t the Chicago fan out himself when he released a signed statement to the media??? The guy works for a consulting firm or something, so I am guessing he was well aware of the outcome of “going to the press.” I could be wrong, though, I didn’t really read up on it…. I felt like if that had BEEN the LAST OUT of the LAST GAME, then… yeah, ok.. but they had a whole other game to get it done in…. and couldn’t. So it wasn’t fanboy’s fault.
Now…. anyone want to talk about the Yankee game?